A Challenge: Something different
by Cloudwatchers
Summary: Sasuke left, Sakura moved on, became part of a new team, became one of the best medics around. When she finds him, he's just another challenge to prove herself, but after months of slow healing, could he have become something more than just a challenge?
1. Pologue

This was a sudden inspration story, I hope you like, its kinda out of trend idea, but tell me what you think (this is just the prologue)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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It was dark. It had been dark for some time now. He was in a void. He couldn't hear anything, see any thing, or feel anything. There was nothing but himself, and he wondered if he was even alive, or caught in some trap for the departed.

He didn't know.

For a while he could feel the sand underneath his body, could see his bone forest towering above him. He had fought those genin and lost, and now he was trapped in this darkness.

It wasn't that he hated the darkness; he had been raised in it. He just didn't like it, like some are not afraid of heights; they just don't feel comfortable near them. He had at first sat there, unable to move, for several days, then he began to fade in and out of consciousness until he was completely emerged in this dark prison.

He only came out for a few moments, to see Orochimaru standing over him, a mocking smile on his face. He had placed a hand over his curse mark that sat below his collar bone, and it burned for a moment then he removed his hand and the mark was gone. So to, was the strength that the mark gave. He collapsed, but not before he heard his master's voice.

"You have served your purpose Kimimaro, your time is up, it is time for you leave this world."

He didn't know what his mentor had meant, and never had the chance to ask as his world rapidly turned back to a black vortex. He had been swimming in a sea of darkness, not dieing an certainly not living. He wished death would take him, so he could be released, there was no point in him living anymore.

But then, why did death leave him here? He didn't know.

He had to wait.

That was all he could do.

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what do you think? let me know with that pretty button in the bottom left corner

-Cloudwatchers

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	2. The beginning of a new team

Okayyyyy, the second chap, if you can even count that first bit as a chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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Neji sighed as he ran down the street. Hanabi was sick, and lord Hiashi was throwing a fit. So he decided to go find a healer before things got ugly. Neji nearly spat at the mans feet when he started raving about it. Never mind that Hinata had gotten it ten times worse a few weeks before and he didn't even bat an eyelash. Hinata had grown increasingly talented and strong, but the man refused to acknowledge this, she was still pathetic in his eyes. He wouldn't even go and see how much she improved. He spat now, at the sidewalk in disgust. He swung around the corner and ran into an equally surprised kunoichi.

As they collected themselves from the ground. A name registered in Neji's head. Sakura. Wasn't she that weak girl on the Uchiha's team? He muttered an apology and offered her a hand to get up. He wondered if she had gotten any stronger after being taught by the Hokage. She ignored the hand and jumped up to her feet and nodded to him.

"Your in a hurry, Neji-san," she said, rather void of emotion.

Neji looked at her curiously. The pink haired girl he remembered was loud and obnoxious, seemingly inept an keeping her emotions hidden. Seemingly (we've all seen Inner Sakura). Now it seemed that she was very under control. He wondered if this control came from the Hokage. He aloud himself an inner chuckle. He couldn't see their present Hokage teaching anyone how to control themselves, she could barely keep herself under control, but then, maybe she was just that strict. He didn't know, nor did he particularly care at that moment. All he wanted to do was find a healer and get Hiashi to shut the fuck up. She still stood in front of him, obviously wanting a reason he had crashed into her. He sighed. Well maybe she knew were he could find a medic in a hurry.

"Sorry Sakura-san, I'm in a bit of a hurry, Hanabi is sick," he hurriedly explained. She smiled.

"And now you need a medic ASAP"

"Yes" he wondered what she was getting at. Then he had to resist the urge to smack his forehead. Tsunade's apprentice, considered the greatest medical genius in the world. Duh, of course her apprentice had to have some skill at healing. He looked at her, not quite sure how to ask, when she pushed pass him and began to walk down the way he had just came. She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"You gonna stand there all day, or are you going to move it?"

He hurried to move up next to her. She said nothing all the way to the residence; he was slightly baffled at this. He was positive that all girls had this unexplainable desire to talk non stop. Tenten wasn't that bad, but she had her moments, and from what he had seen of this girl, she had an exceptionally large mouth. Now she remained completely silent, giving an uncomfortable feel to the air. They finally reached the house and Neji led her to Hanabis room, where she was quarantined. Sakura walked in and Hanabi looked up at them.

"Hello Sakura-chan! What are you doing here?" Hanabi asked, almost excitedly.

Neji looked at the two kunoichi, obviously in the dark.

Sakura laughed "I heard that my favorite healer in training was sick, so I came to see if I could fix that problem" she explained with a smile.

Neji was now looking back and forth between the two of them. He wondered if Hiashi knew that Hanabi was receiving training to be a medic.

"Healer in training?" he asked them.

Sakura's smile turned just a little wicked.

"Hanabi has extordinary chakra control, ideilic for a medic, and she has also shown interest and talent to become a medic. And because Tsunade is trying to get a program for field medics started, so any that we find at a young age now, will benefit the programs future, and besides, the byakugan is very useful for spotting premature illness, so our Hanabi here could spot potential problems before they even develop." She smirked "Even you could learn some basic techniques"

"And Hiashi-sama knows about this?"

Her smirk grew broader, "What Hiashi doesn't know wont hurt him. Besides, when he finally allows her to enter the academy, we wont have to steal her away so often, she can just take the class."

Sakura turned back to Hanabi. "Lets see whats wrong here…" Neji watched, fascinated by the process. Using the byakugan, he watched her chakra enter his cousins body, efficiently and quickly pinpointed the location of her illness. Finding it, she burned it away, and cleared all effects of the illness. Hanabi took a full, clear breath, and smiled.

"Thank you Sakura-chan" she said before she yawned and promptly fell asleep.

"She's going to be very hungry when she gets up, sp be sure to have food ready" Giving him a reassuring smile, she jumped to her feet.

At first she stood there, wobbling slightly, hand to her head. He came up to her and thanked her. She smiled "No problem I was glad to help."

She stood there for a moment before collapsing. Neji caught her as she muttered, "I'll never learn, no matter how many times this happens, I'll never learn" before completely passing out.

"Sakura-san!"

He was unsure of what to do and laid her down on the floor and ran to get a blanket. He draped it over her and checked her vital signs, silently thanking Hinata for making him quiz her over and over on everyone of her medic books. He looked over her, noticing the rings around her eyes, and the pale look to her skin. If he hadn't been preoccupied earlier, he would have noticed it right off. He wondered how much sleep she was getting, she had rings around her eyes that rivaled Gaaras.

She came around in about an hour. She looked confusedly at Neji, who was sitting right next to her, almost hovering. He gave a falsely cheerful smile.

"So you decided to rejoin the ranks of the living?"

She glared at him. "How long was I out?"

"An hour, have you slept much? You've got some really dark rings around your eyes."

"Yeahh…"

"When?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "I slept…uhhhh…I think a couple of days ago." She looked slightly abashed.

He couldn't help but stare. She was functioning after several days of no sleep, and functioning well enough to heal without any problems. He shook his head. It wasn't any of his business how she took care of herself. She flung the blanket off, and slowly got to her feet.

"Thank you for the help." She said before attempting to walk away. She made it to the doorway before wavering, and leaning against the door frame, all the while cursing herself. She hated it when she felt like this. She felt weak, something she had tried to concure since that night, that night that _he_ had left. She never wanted to feel that again. Thats why she worked tirelessly, often skipping meals and sleep. Her knees were trembling. How long _had _it been since she last ate or slept? She didn't know. She forgot those things often and they were often the bane of her. Neji came up behind her and took her arm. She shoved him away. She could take care of herself. Hopefully. Finally her legs gave out. She made a mental note to male sure to eat at least one every two days. Collapsing was not an option for her, and her personally set rules for herself. She could've slammed her fist into the wall, but this was th Hyuuga residence, the last thing she needed was to have Tsunade chewing her ear off about that. She got enough of an earful every time a new stack of papers came in, and then, 90 of the time, she ended up doing about half of them, or more. She was going to fall again, '_Damnit'_ she really didn't need this happening in front of the Hyuuga protogie. He grabbed her arm again and steadied her, clasping her arm all the more tightly when she tried to push him away again.

"Knock it off, its obvious you need some help"he said, slightly annoyed at her stubbornness.

"I can handle myself!" she snapped back.

"I have no doubt that you can, however, you are tired from lack of sleep, and probably you haven't eaten in a while, judging by your rather pale look."

"I'm fine, I don't need you to baby me, and I'm not-" her stomach growled loudly.

He smirked, "You were saying?"

She looked away, and didn't complain again as her lead her down a hallway. He lead her to a small kitchen, where he sat her down at a small table in the middle of the room, with three small chairs sitting around it. _'Bet this is where they go when they get back from longer missions'_. She watched, slightly fascinated, Neji, as he moved rather comfortably around the small, kitchen, making a small meal.

"That had better be for Hanabi." she said, with a soft, threatening undertone.

He smiled a little as he continued his work. "I haven't forgotten, but some of this is also for you."

She snarled at his back, knowing full well that he could see her. She head him chuckle softly, which went to sour her expression even more. Though she would hate to admit it, she _was_ feeling slightly light headed, well actually, she wouldn't admit it, but she would, however accept the food. As of late, she had been living off store bought ramen and protein cubes. Not exactly gourmet cuisine. But it did fill her up, no matter how much her stomach wanted to revolt afterward.

A plate clattering in front of her broke her from her musings. She looked down at the plate, and couldn't help but be appreciative of Nejis cooking. It was definitely better than her own, she could burn water.

"Arigato, Neji-san," she said, quietly taking the chopsticks he offered her. She pulled them apart and quickly said "Itadakimasu" before digging in.

It was good, of course, he was a Hyuuga, she was beginning to think that cooking skills where hereditary, Hinata was a good cook to and Hiashi had once good naturedly fed her after she brought Hinata home after one particularly long mission.

As she ate, Neji studied her as he sat down across the starving kunoichi. She had earlobe length hair, she must have cut it again, he remembered seeing it brushing her shoulders. She had intense green eyes, that seemed to change with in seconds, from a soft caring medic look, to a snarling prideful one. She had defined cheek bones and a nose that was too small to be considered pretty, but beautiful for her.

She chuckled, now calling him back to reality. She was now examining him now. Looking at her plate, he realized that she was all ready done. She either picked up Naruto's eating habits, or she was very hungry. He hoped it was the latter of the two. He had eaten enough with Naruto to build an immunity to it, but still, it wasn't pretty. It was one thing to see that idiot inhale his food. He couldn't really picture the kunoichi sitting across from him eating like that.

Sakura wondered what was going on behind Neji's lavender eyes. He seemed to remember something scarring, as his face twisted for a moment. She took the time to look him over, she hadn't really paid attention to him after Naruto had left, he had occasionally ate with her and Naruto, when he wasn't to busy training. She wondered if he was remembering his first meal with Naruto. He hadn't taken her advice and quickly eaten his food before Naruto had started on his. He hadn't even gotten his chopsticks to his mouth before he began to watch Naruto in horror. He had left his own food untouched, and it was happily consumed by Naruto. After that he seemed to build an immunity, and the next time, he had eaten as much as he could before Naruto had received his bowl. The cook seemed to under stand and took a little bit longer to get Naruto's to him.

She smiled at the memory. But it was only when he was being disgusted by Naruto that she had really seen him, so after Naruto left, she never really saw him in more than a passing glance. She inspected him closely now. He had stopped pulling his hair back and had gotten rid of the straps that used to dangle on either side of his face. He was notably taller, especially after two years. He wore a more traditional kimono, replacing the tan shirt and shorts he used to wear. His face had matured, becoming more defined, loosing the last of the childlike quality's.

"Come to any conclusions yet?" Neji asked.

Startled from her musings"What?"

"Come to any conclusions yet, from your analysis?"

She smiled "Almost, your not that easy to analyze."

"I'll take that as a complement"

They continued to talk, until a sleepy Hanabi walked in, rubbing her eyes, looking for food. They fed her and Sakura bid her farewells, leaving under the excuse of paper work that was left unfinished. Neji showed the kunoichi out, to return to his mischievously grinning cousin.

"What?"

"Neji's got a girlfriend!!" she said in a sing song voice.

"WHAT?!?!"

She giggled and ran before her red cousin could get a hold of her.

In a way, Hanabi hadn't been far from the mark. Neji began to run into the temperamental kunoichi many of the places he went. But most of the time it was just a passing wave or a quick hello.

Then occasionally the would meet up at Ichiraku Ramen, like they used to when Naruto was there. The first time he watched her carefully to make sure she hadn't picked up the hyperactive ninjas eating habits. He was relived to find that she hadn't.

Of course there was always missions that he had to accomplish. Sakura often stayed at the hospital to work. When he left he found that he worried about her, he had come to see that she often forgot to take of herself. At first he ignored it, letting her do things her own way. After a rather long mission, he gave in and went to go find the pink kunoichi. He found her at her desk in her office at the hospital. She looked up and smiled and uttered an incomprehensible greating. He looked at her closely. She once again had large rings around her eyes, he was willing to bet that she hadn't slept in the last couple of days. Watching her move shakily around the room, he was also willing to bet that she hadn't eaten recently either. He stepped up to her side and grabbed her arm. She gave him a quizzical look.

"Food. Now. Don't even think about running off." he muttered tersely as he towed her towards the door.

"B-b-but Neji I have to finish and I-" "Need to stop talking" she scowled at him "I have to finish or tunade-sama will-" "get pissed that you haven't been taking care of yourself again"

She looked at him puzzledly. "I have to"

He smirked "Whats the date?"

She looked at him like he was stupid "Its the first of April, _DUH_"

He smirked again, "Wrong, its the _seventh _of April"

"What?!" she chewed on he thumbnail "Thats not possible, you were going on a mission-"

"I was to get _back _from a mission"

She uttered a soft 'oh' and let him drag her to Ichiraku without any complaints. He ordered her a bowl and sat there, making sure she ate every bite, then made her drink all of the broth. He then dragged her to her apartment and ordered her to shower and get into bed. When she began to sputter about her work, he firmly replied that it wasn't going to walk off and would be there for her in the morning. Humbled, she did as she was told and found that after showering and pulling on a pair of pajamas, she could barely make it to her bed. Maybe Neji was right...

After this, Neji made routine checks on her, to the point he became an older brother to her. He wouldn't admit it, but she became a younger sister to him. When both of them finally acknowledged it, it had been after a mission, one of the few times she went on one, though as of late she had been going on quite a few, for her, with Neji there to hound her every step of the way, to make sure she was taking proper care of her self. He had started his speech about her health and then went on to order her to eat and rest. She had rolled her eyes and said almost sarcasticly "Yes, ni-san, whatever you say, ni-san" He looked at her strangly for a moment before grinning the replying, "Glad we have an understanding, onee-chan". From then on, thats what they called each other.

Sakura then agreed to be put on a team with her adoptive brother. But neither of them knew that their little family was about to grow.

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Well wadya think?

please review


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